Rail joint



Patented June 24, 1924.

JOHN STRIPLING, OF REIDSVILLE, GEORGIA.

RAIL JOINT.

Application filed August 1, 1923-.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, JOHN STRirLrNG, a vcitizen of the United States, andresident of Reidsville, in the county of Tattnall and State of Georgia,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in R-ail Joints, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in rail joints, my purpose,generally speaking,

1o being to eliminate screw threaded or other fasteners of alike naturefory securing together the meeting ends of railway rails, whichfasteners have a tendency to work loose, often with disastrous results,and to provide a joint that embodies a minimum number of parts, whichlatter are cheap and easy to produce, strong, durable, and thoroughlyreliable and eiicient in use.

More particularly it is my purpose to provide a rail joint including asingle locking key for a plurality of securing bolts, to provide meansto facilitate the application and removal of said key with respecty tosuch bolts, and to pro-vide means of a very simple and effective naturefor lockingl said key against accidental displacement from a securingstatus with respect to the securing bolts.

With the foregoing and other purposes in View, my invention consists inthe novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of partsas will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference denotecorresponding parts in the different views z- 4 Figurev 1 is a sideelevation of a rail joint embodying the novel and essential features ofmy invention;

Figure 2, a horizontal section through my improved rail joint; -Y vFigure 3,' a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Figure l;

Fifrure 4, an enlarged detail section show" ing the engagement betweenthe locking key and one of the securing bolts; and

Figure 5, a detail perspective of a portion of the locking key.

Referring now to the vdrawings in detail, 10 and 11 designate a pair ofrails, the meeting ends of which are connected by {ishplates 12, 18 andtransverse bolts 14, which latter extend through the {ish-plates and theSerial No. 655,078.

webs of the rails in the ordinary well known i manner. l

The bolts 14 are headed, but instead of being screw threaded to receiveclamping or 1 securing nuts, as is usual, each of them is provided, nearits free end, with a trans-v verse, dove-tailed slot 15 of limited depththat opens through one side of the bolt as shown. The inclined wall ofslot 15 that isnearest to the head 16 of the bolt, for approximatelyone-third of its length, adjacent to the base of the slot, is cut atright angles tothe axis of the bolt, as indicatedat 17, for a purposethat will presently appear.

The locking key of my invention consists of an elongated bar 18, headedat one end as indicated at 19 and at its other end profr vided with atransverse opening to receive a locking element such as a cotter pin 20yasl best shown in Figure 1l of the drawings.

Locking key 18, ,in transverse section, is`

At proper intervals throughout its lengthV each of the inclined sidefaces of locking key 18 is recessed as indicated at 22, thus providingalong the key alternate dovetailed and narrowed portions 23,' 24, thelatter of which are of such width as to be freely insertable andremovable through the nar-- rowest portions of the slots 15 in bolts14.'

From the foregoing description considered in connection with thedrawings, it is believed that the manner of using my invention will beapparent. To'produce Va strong', durable, effective and lasting jointbetween" the adjacent ends of rails 10 vand 11, :fish plates 12 and 413)are first placed, respectively, against opposite faces of the'webs ofthe rails and the bolt receiving openings therein alinedv with thesimilar bolt receiving openings in the webs of the rails. The bolts 14are then passed through the fishplates and theV webs of the rails, allfrom.the same side of the rails, until their heads abut one ofthefish-plates and their free ends extend beyond the other fishplate, `allof said bolts being disposed with their slots 15 uppermost andrelatively alined.. The locking key 18 then is engaged with the slots 15of the bolts by alining its recessed or narrowed portions 24 with saidbolts which permits the key to drop down into the slots therein as ismanifest. The headed end of the key then is struck with a hammer orother instrument to slide the key longitudinally until its dove-tailedportions 23 engage the slots 15, which locks the key* against all butlengthwise movement out of said slots and locks the bolts 14 in securingrelationto the fish plates and the ends of-the rails.` The head of thekey engages one of the outermost bolts 111- which preventsl longitudinalmovement of the key inf'one direc-tion, while theV cotter pin 20, which-ispassed through the openingl in the other. end of the key after thelatter has been manipulated asjust mentioned, engages the otheroutermost bolt 14 and prevents longitudinal movement of the key in thereverse direction.:

In-producingthe bolts 14 the right-anguiar cuts.17 ofthe dove-tailed,slots 15 'are spaced` from-the heads of the bolts a distance equal to;the 'combined ,thicknesses of thefish-plates 12,y 13 and the web of theor Ibite linto the fish-plate` and `.thereby affect the efliciency orease of manipulation of the ken It is preferable to' formV the locking'key' 18 asa single element,- but if desired, itmay be formedinplural'sections, each having av head Landia/n opening for the` receptionofia cotterpin or othersecuring device, .it lbeing manifest, iii-:eitherevent, that the key or:

keys are readily engageable and disengageable withandfrom lthebolts andthat said keyj or keysaswe'll `as theboltsmay be used over and ,overAagain.

It isbelievedlfrom they foregoing that the:

construction, opera-tion andV z tdvantages of myimprovements will Abefully understood. It. is desired.I to =po-int out, however, Y thatchanges`r and desirable additions mayv be` made in and to the structuralarrangement shown within the spirit and scope of my invention as definedin the appended claims.

I claim 1. The combination with the meeting` ends of a pair of rails andfish plates engaged, respectively, against opposite faces of the websofsaid rails; of securing bolts extendingthrough said fish plates andthe webs of said rails, each of said bolts having a dove-tailed slot, asingle locking key engageable with a plurality of said bolts to holdsaid fish-plates in assembly with said rails, said locking key being'ofdove-tailed shape for engagement in the dove-tailed slots of said boltsand being recessed at intervals/to` provide alternate dove-tailed andnarrowed portions to facilitate engagement and disengagement of the keywith and from said bolts, and means for locking said key against removalfrom said bolts.

2. The combination with the meetingends of a pair of rails and lishplates engaged, respectively, against opposite faces of the webs of`said rails; of securing bolts extending through said fish plates andthe webs of said rails, each of said bolts having a dovetailed slot, asingle locking key engageable with a' plurality of said` bolts to holdsaid fish-plates in assembly with said rails, said locking key being ofdove-tailed shape for engagement in the doveetailed slots of saidboltsand being adapted at one side to contact with one lof saidfish-plates, an inclined face of Said key adjacentv to the fish-platewith-whichthe key is adapted to contact being flattened throughoutportions of its length `to, provide a flat surface for engagement withsaid fish plate, said key being recessed at intervals to providealternate dovetailed and narrowed portions to facilitate engagement anddisengagement of the key with and vfrom said bolts, a head on' one endof' said key engageable with one of said boltsto limit longitudinalmovement of the key in one direction, and an element removably engagedwith the other end of the key and with another of said bolts to limitlongitudinal ymovement of the key in an opposite direction.

In testimony whereof lihereunto af'lix inv signature.

JOHN STRIPLN

